California is developing "Green Chemistry"
regulations that could affect all businesses-including non-California
companies-that make consumer products sold in the state as well as companies
that manufacture chemicals used in those consumer products. In September 2008,
Governor Schwarzenegger...

The Official Journal of the European Union has published Directive 2011/65/EU on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (recast RoHS), following the European Council's formal adoption of the version we reported on earlier this year. As discussed...

By E. Lynn Grayson, Partner, Jenner & Block
According to WHO, a significant challenge exists with monitoring and assessing individual and population level exposure and risk to environmental chemicals associated with how to consider age and life-stage related changes in behavior and physiology...

By E. Lynn Grayson, Partner, Jenner & Block
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced its second meeting focused on strengthening global collaboration in chemical risk assessment to be held 29-30 March 2012 in Bonn, Germany. The first meeting was held in March 2010.
The two day meeting...

On June 13, 2013, the House Environment and the Economy Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing entitled “Title I of the Toxic Substances Control Act: Understanding its History and Reviewing its Impact.” Given the attention the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)...

EPA, OSHA and ATF have issued a chemical advisory that provides information on the hazards of ammonium nitrate (AN) storage, handling and management. This action supports the goals of President Obama's August 2013 executive order on "Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security." The...

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) announced that it will add diisononyl phthalate (DINP) to the list of chemicals known to the State to cause cancer for purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (widely known as Proposition 65). DINP is...

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has announced that it is considering implementation of the most significant changes to Prop. 65 regulations in more than two decades. OEHHA has posted the draft regulation and Initial Statement of Reasons on its website.
Passed...

By Meredith Odato Graham
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has announced the availability of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to solicit public comments on “the information that should be reported or disclosed for hydraulic fracturing chemical substances and...

The EPA recently initiated a process that may result in the first federal regulation of chemicals used in fracking, a drilling technique that has significantly enhanced energy production and development in the United States.
In a response to a citizen petition under Section 21 of TSCA submitted by...

EPA has released the 2013 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) preliminary dataset, which contains toxic chemical release and pollution prevention data reported by facilities for the 2013 calendar year. The currently available dataset includes reporting forms processed as of July 9, 2014 (the annual reporting...

On August 1, 2013, reacting to a number of high-profile incidents and the constant drumbeat from the Chemical Safety Board, President Obama signed Executive Order 13650, entitled Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security, [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers ]. Among other things...

By Steven M. Siros
Recent actions by Senator Barbara Boxer may have sounded the death knell for TSCA reform in 2014. On September 18, 2014, Senator Boxer unveiled what she characterized as revisions to a TSCA reform bill that had been being worked on by a bi-partisan committee within the Senate...

By Steven M. Siros
On March 13, 2015, the Environmental Appeals Board ("EAB") struck down a landmark $2,751,800 penalty that had been imposed on Elementis Chromium for its alleged failure to comply with the Toxic Substances Control Act's ("TSCA") reporting obligations under...

By Sheila A. Millar and Nathan A. Cardon
From one corner of the country to the other – literally, from California to Maine – industry is facing a growing number of green chemistry initiatives, each giving states varying degrees of authority to regulate “chemicals of concern”...

By Andi S. Kenney
Chemicals, natural and synthetic, are all around us. We can’t live life without them--and we wouldn’t want to. But some chemicals are toxic to humans and the flora and fauna with which we share the earth. Replacing toxic substances found in the workplace, distributed...

On April 28, 2015, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed an amended version of the bipartisan bill S. 697, [subscribers can access an enhanced version of this bill: lexis.com | Lexis Advance ], the “Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21 st Act.” The amended bill...

On May 14, 2015, the House of Representatives Environment and the Economy Subcommittee unanimously reported its TSCA Modernization Act legislative proposal. The draft is a result of bipartisan efforts led by the Subcommittee Chairman, John Shimkus (R-IL), and supported by Subcommittee Ranking Member...

On June 3, 2015, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously, with one abstention by Representative Eshoo (D-CA), to submit the amended TSCA Modernization Act to the House of Representatives.
During the hearing, two amendments were introduced. One bipartisan amendment offered by the...

The House of Representatives passed the TSCA Modernization Act (H.R. 2576), [subscribers can access an enhanced version of this bill: lexis.com | Lexis Advance ], by an overwhelming majority of 398-1, on June 23, 2015. The alternative Senate bill, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st...